Recently the Edmonton Real Estate Board released it's market forecast for 2007. EREB president, Carolyn Pratt, predicted in the annual forecast seminar that housing prices will rise 15% in 2007.

"There is enough strength in the Alberta and Edmonton economy to forecast an increase,” said Carolyn Pratt, president of the EREB. “But to predict the percentage increase is difficult.” Pratt said that despite 52% price increases in 2006, Edmonton housing prices are still below Canadian and Alberta average prices. “There is capacity to increase prices in this market especially if we compare Edmonton prices to Vancouver or Toronto."

This break in rising housing prices is an excellent chance to pick up more properties. Even though house values rose 52% last year our due diligence shows that Edmonton make sense to buy in for a long time to come. The numbers work! There IS negative cashflow and that is okay because the capital gains on the investment far covers the paper loss.

The Edmonton market is long term and the prices will continue to rise for the next few years. A pause in the market is what investors need to get more product. It is also a great chance for new investors to put their money into Canada's #1 city to invest in.